gyara!!!

[OVERVIEW]

Gyarados clings to RBY OU relevance thanks to a combination of massively inflated stats, expansive coverage in moves like Thunderbolt and Blizzard, and a unique typing that makes it the only Water-type immune to Ground-type attacks, letting it switch in on a predicted Earthquake with impunity. Gyarados's attacking stats are extremely high, allowing it to achieve feats such as 2HKOing Tauros and 3HKOing Snorlax with Hydro Pump, making it capable of winning against them one-on-one. Plus, it's bulky enough to the point that even a Thunderbolt from Starmie fails to OHKO it without a critical hit. It's not exactly slow relative to RBY OU either, outrunning Pokemon like Cloyster, Dragonite, and Victreebel while threatening them with its coverage. Overall, Gyarados can be seen as a battering ram that can deal major damage to paralyzed teams.

However, while it may have been a big threat in the early days of the generation, Gyarados fell out of favor due to its typing giving it some horrendous weaknesses. While its Ground immunity is enticing when wanting to switch in on Rhydon, it also takes huge damage from Rock Slide: its defensive bulk isn't as good as it looks. It also gets a quadruple weakness to Thunderbolt and neutrality to Blizzard, making it hard for Gyarados to get in against the special attackers of the tier. If paralyzed, this gets even worse, as Gyarados's lack of reliable recovery makes it very easy to wear down as-is. Even outside of this, because of a criminal lack of physical STAB, Gyarados struggles mightily against specially bulky Pokemon like Chansey and Gengar, which it struggles to damage. Finally, Gyarados struggles to distinguish itself from Lapras outside of its typing and superior Attack, which has the same coverage and higher overall bulk. As a result of these flaws, Gyarados is a very rare sight in RBY OU, often requiring extensive support from a dedicated team to function properly.

[SET]
name: Wallbreaker
move 1: Hydro Pump
move 2: Thunderbolt / Blizzard
move 3: Body Slam
move 4: Hyper Beam

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

Gyarados's Hydro Pump is no joke, letting it potentially 3HKO Snorlax and 2HKO Tauros, winning against them one-on-one. Thunderbolt gives Gyarados a fighting chance against Pokemon like Cloyster and Lapras, as well as paralyzed Starmie, which gets KOed by Thunderbolt + Hyper Beam. However, Blizzard can be used to 3HKO Exeggutor instead. Body Slam allows Gyarados to scout for switch-ins while threatening with paralysis, making use of its great Attack stat in the process; this also prevents Starmie and Jolteon from coming in safely, which are otherwise some of its biggest threats. To top it off, Hyper Beam acts as a way for Gyarados to blow past non-Reflect Chansey and Alakazam, KOing them from 58% and 63.5% onwards, respectively.

Gyarados can be brought in early on a predicted Rest from Snorlax — a common sight in the early-game in RBY — then threaten it with Hydro Pump from there to force damage onto the opposing team. Gyarados's high Special and Water resistance makes it one of the best Clamp absorbers in the game too, making it very capable of switching in on a predicted one from Cloyster. Outside of this though, due to its typing, Gyarados's switch-in opportunities are quite limited, mostly being reserved to generic methods like pivoting with partial trapping, gambling on full paralysis, and Explosion. However, Gyarados's typing makes it well-equipped for double switching against Ground-type coverage, allowing it to ease in Pokemon like Jolteon and Chansey if the situation calls for it. It's good practice to save Gyarados for a late-game sweep if possible, as it's adept at exploiting paralyzed Pokemon thanks to its hulking offensive presence. In this scenario, Gyarados is very difficult to switch in against, often forcing the opponent to sack said Pokemon and try to claw back momentum that way.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Surf can be used if Hydro Pump's consistency is problematic, but this drastically reduces Gyarados's threat level, making Pokemon like Snorlax and Alakazam more than capable of walling it out with their recovery moves. Worse still, it's not that much better than Blizzard in practice damage-wise, making it largely redundant. Thunder is a serviceable option to 2HKO Starmie, but its criminally low accuracy and lack of benefit outside of this make it mostly suboptimal.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Gengar**: Gengar can switch in on Gyarados and KO it with Thunderbolt if it's taken even a modicum of damage. However, it can't repeatedly switch into Hydro Pump, lest it gets 3HKOed in the process.

**Chansey**: Chansey can effortlessly take Gyarados's special coverage and takes surprisingly little from its physical attacks, which makes Reflect sets particularly depressing to fight against. Additionally, Chansey's access to Thunderbolt and Thunder Wave makes it very risky for Gyarados to contest it unless its moveset has already been successfully scouted. However, Gyarados can KO Chansey with Hyper Beam from 49.3% onwards if Reflect isn't active, which makes a paralyzed Chansey very possible to beat.

**Starmie and Lapras**: While it gets Thunderbolt, Gyarados struggles to deal with Starmie and Lapras due to their Hydro Pump resistance and ability to simply outdamage Gyarados with their own coverage. However, Starmie should be careful if it's paralyzed, as it's 2HKOed by Thunderbolt + Hyper Beam. It also has to risk Body Slam paralysis when switching in, which can potentially incapacitate it for the rest of the game.

**Electric-types and Electric-type coverage**: Any Pokemon with Thunderbolt is automatically a Gyarados check. Jolteon and Zapdos cleanly OHKO Gyarados with their STAB Thunderbolts, though Jolteon specifically doesn't want to take a Hydro Pump and easily taken out if caught using Rest. If Tauros runs Thunderbolt, it can 2HKO Gyarados off the bat, though it doesn't want to stomach a Hydro Pump unless the Tauros mirror has been accounted for. Similarly, Persian can use Thunderbolt to 2HKO Gyarados, which is arguably more threatening because of its higher critical hit rate.

**Exeggutor**: If not running Blizzard, Exeggutor resists both of Gyarados's special coverage options and threatens with massive damage or sleep in return. Even with Blizzard in the equation, a Special drop from Psychic can instantly ruin any chance of Gyarados actually winning. However, Exeggutor doesn't often want to take a Blizzard, as it often wants to save its bulk for more pressing matchups, particularly against Rhydon or Snorlax.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Plague von Karma, 236353]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]